Last crack

For me, this odd, democratic odyssey ceased at 3:30 this morning. That’s when I pulled back into my driveway in Auburn. I left home to strike out on the Election Day trail 21 ½ hours earlier.

As I slipped out of The Post-Standard’s Syracuse office just before 1 a.m., City Hall reporter Frederic Pierce and politics reporter John Mariani were still preparing the first draft of history for Election Day 2005, served hot and fresh to you in today’s paper. Those guys are amazing. For them, the Election Day marathon really began months ago and slowly built into a maddening sprint. I’m glad they wrapped things up fast enough to join me and a few of us other ink-stained wretches for a beer at Clark’s Ale House.

There are a few things in my Election Day notes that I should have posted yesterday but didn’t. Here they are now:

1) A television reporter asked mayoral candidate Joanie Mahoney how she voted on the two statewide propositions. She declined to answer, and then dropped this funny line: “I’m practicing my inaccessibility.”

2) The marquee at the Palace Theater, host to the Democrat’s Election Night gathering, read:

IN HER SHOES...THURSDAY
DEMOCRATS PARTY...TONITE

I thought that perhaps the top line was a witty take on Mahoney’s predicament as the defeated candidate. But I’ve just been told that “In Her Shoes” is an actual movie playing at the theater, starring Carmen Diez.

3) The Democrats might want to send a thank you card to 28-year-old Michael Little. It seems he swayed at least two people to support Mayor Matt Driscoll. Little’s parents are both active in politics in other communities, and since moving here, he has become a fan of Driscoll’s. Paul Linczak, 24, and Sara Dauesavage, 22, both voted for Driscoll and credited Little with getting them interested in the election at all. “I’m pretty conservative, actually, but Michael definitely helped sell me on the mayor,” said Dauesavage, who was with her two friends at the Democratic victory party at the Palace.

4) Two of the most gracious people I interviewed Tuesday were Justin Sayles, 16, and Brian Driscoll, 14. Sayles worked on the campaign of an old family friend, a woman he calls “Mrs. Mahoney.” Meanwhile, Driscoll is the mayor’s son, a student at Corcoran High School. I talked to Sayles just after he realized Mahoney would lose. He was filled with gratitude that he had the chance to take part in her campaign. For Driscoll, the feeling was relief. The nasty campaign was over, and his father had won.